Kara Walker was born in Stockton, California in 1969. She received a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991 and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. The artist is best known for exploring the raw intersection of race, gender, and sexuality through her iconic, silhouetted figures. Walker unleashes the traditionally proper Victorian medium of the silhouette directly onto the walls of the gallery, creating a theatrical space in which her unruly cut-paper characters fornicate and inflict violence on one another. In recent works like “Darkytown Rebellion” (2000), the artist uses overhead projectors to throw colored light onto the ceiling, walls, and floor of the exhibition space. When the viewer walks into the installation, his or her body casts a shadow onto the walls where it mingles with Walker’s black-paper figures and landscapes. With one foot in the historical realism of slavery and the other in the fantastical space of the romance novel, Walker’s nightmarish fictions simultaneously seduce and implicate the audience. Walker’s work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. A 1997 recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Achievement Award, Walker was the United States representative to the 2002 São Paolo Bienal in Brazil. Walker currently lives in New York where she is on the faculty of the MFA program at Columbia University. For additional biographic & bibliographic information:
Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York | Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Kara Walker on the Art21 blog
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Home Page
This Web site is an educational resource developed in conjunction with the Walker Art Center exhibition Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love, the first full-scale U.S. museum survey of the work of American artist Kara Walker. The site, designed for educators at the high school and college levels, general museum visitors, and community group leaders, can be used to both prepare for viewing the exhibition and to engage groups in dialogue about the artist's work.
The resource includes a brief biography of the artist, an overview of the techniques and media she employs, an introduction to themes in her work, suggested modes of response, and an Annotated Resource List. Additional information about related programs has been gathered for various types of users. Look for reading- and age-level recommendations in the citations of the Annotated Resource List.
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In 2007, Walker was listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in The World, Artists and Entertainers, in a citation written by fellow artist Barbara Kruger.
Walker’s silhouette images work to bridge unfinished folklore in the Antebellum South, raising identity and gender issues for African American women in particular. However, because of her truthful approach to the topic, Walker’s artwork is reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s Pop Art during the 1960s (indeed, Walker says she adored Warhol growing up as a child). Her nightmarish yet fantastical images incorporate a cinematic feel. Walker uses images from historical textbooks to show how white people depicted African American slaves during Antebellum South.
“The Battle of Atlanta” above, a white man, presumably a Southern soldier, is raping a black girl while her brother watches in shock, a white child is about to insert his sword into a nearly-lynched black woman’s vagina, and a male black slave rains tears all over an adolescent white boy.
“The Emancipation Approximation” is the title of the piece is an ironic play on words referring to Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 that abolished slavery in this country. Images alluding to the horrors of slavery in that era.
Some of Walker’s exhibitions have been shown at The Renaissance Society in Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Walker has also been shown internationally and featured on PBS. Her work graces the cover of musician Arto Lindsay’s recording, Salt (2004).
Posted in Our Personal Ish! by L-WAY
10 Responses to “Black History Month: Kara Walker”
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liz said:
I hate her work.
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Liz said:
Why is she doing this type of work??? Because white people depicted us this way???? Why would a woman of color, choose to build the foundation of her work on racist images of Africans??? There are so many proud images of our people, why use derogatory ones? Ms. Walker isn’t even from the south! The stories I heard growing up about Africans were amazing. I just don’t get it. However, what I do understand is why “white people” love her work. Self hatred is a beautiful thing to racist.
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Shonkeela said:
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:24 am
Whoever you are, you shouldn’t judge her for what she is doing. This isn’t self hate you’re seeing. Unless ypu’re the self hater. In art as in all things you see are what you want to see and if that’s what you see, that’s what YOU feel. Not her. Even if racists only like it for that it’s what they see. Of course, there are proud black stories she could have told, but she would only be avoiding the pain. Pretending that these things never happened. Then that would empower the “white racists” even more, because it would say, “I’m afraid to tel the truth, so I’ll hide behind these happy nice images. This art say’s something beautiful, you just want to see something negative. If you don’t like her work then that’s a personal problem. I like her work, and I’m black and from the south. I’m rambling. Later.^_^
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doug said:
September 29th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I am a white man but in complete agreement with Liz. I think in repeating racist derogatory images one perpetuates the image, her intent is irrelevant in the viewers mind. I do like the innocent and delicate nature of the paper cut outs themselves, in relation to the imagery. I just find, in general, the images are so easy and cliched that they loose their power for me. It is like a child who gets an intense response from adults when she says shit, and so keeps on saying it over and over again, to get that same kind attention. But does it really relate to very many peoples lives now? I think we all know about the horror and tragedy of slavery, certainly she is not teaching us anything new on that front; but is it possible she diminishes that history with her over the top characters?
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Shelly said:
February 24th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
I am studying this piece and though it is shocking, it is the truth of the times. There is no shame in history. Be proud of the fact that black and white people (for the most part), have been able to move past the dirty truth of those times. I personally appreciate any truth to American history. We weren’t taught the truth in history class. Continued oppression of the facts of our past doesn’t do anyone any good.
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Anastasia said:
Funny how much time has passed ,and yet it stands still. I feel the pain lingers because we have not moved past the isms of yesterday, for to do so we would have to love one another as The Bible instructs. How can one love GOD whom you have never seen and yet hate me, who you see everyday………..2010 and we are still blocking a fundamental paradigm for change…LOVE. Look beyond the obivous, and search your heart and soul,therin lies the why.
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tomica said:
I love her work! My history has never been explain to me the way her art has. Remembering my past prepares me for my future. Kara thank you for sharing your beautiful gift with the world.
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Joanne Caywood said:
I was researching a project and my prof. suggested Kara Walkers readings. I ordered 2books Diary of a negress and a refugee. I was in shock with the things she has uncovered and brought out. This woman is world renowned for her true to life dipiction of black lilfe in antebellum south. I have never been so in awe!!!!! I can’t wait to read the books!!!!!!
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Jacqueline Jinks said:
I think you have an amazing talent, you are unique & different and your art tells a story, everyone views it as they see fit.
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Anagel said:
November 17th, 2010 at 2:40 am
Black people need to be able to critique the world around us. Wake up! Slavery is not dead and the media still refuses to show Black people with dignity. Our artists are so important to reflect back the hate that we face daily, and truly how disturbing it is in the face of our Excellence. Blessings on your work sister.
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